Top 5 Songs about Time - Chop's Picks

Following on from last week's collaborative vote these are my personal pick's for the best five songs about time.

1. Nick Drake "Time Has Told Me" - The opening track from Nick Drake's debut album, Five Leaves Left, and also one of my favourite Drake tunes. A lovely little acoustic guitar intro sets the scene before Nick's marvellous baritone vocals take over. He's backed by an impressive line up of folk-rock musicians including Fairport Convention's Richard Thompson on Guitar who therefore makes two appearances on this list.



2. Edwin Starr "Time" - One of the best things about doing the collaborative top fives is discovering new songs I wasn't previously aware of. I guess I've not explored Edwin Starr much beyond the obvious singles and until @MonkeyPicks suggested this for the vote I'm sure I hadn't heard this corking tune before. I love it and it's shot straight into my top five, think I'm going to have to invest in some more of Mr Starr's back catalogue.



3. Fairport Convention "Who Knows Where The Time Goes?" - This did unexpectedly well in the collaborative vote which was great to see. It's a real showcase for Sandy Denny's majestic vocal and, though written by Deny before she joined Fairport (you know this already if you read last week's post), one of Fairport's best songs.



4. The Smiths "How Soon Is Now?" - This was the song that finally cracked The Smiths for me. Johnny Marr's trademark twangy guitar intro is perfect and Morrissey's lyric one of his best. As a teen Metal fan, I spent most of the late 80's either ignoring the band or actively disliking them and it would be over a decade until I really gave them a proper chance. I remember borrowing Meat Is Murder on cassette from the local library soon after it came out (or at least, as soon as the library added it to their minimal music section) but it was Hatful Of Hollow, a compilation album of early singles and BBC sessions, that would eventually win me over.



5. The Who "5:15" - I'm generally more a fan of The Who's Sixties output than their 70's Rock Opera phase but recently re-watched Quadrophenia and enjoyed it a lot more than I'd previously remembered. 5.15 has one of my favourite intros, they throw the kitchen sink at it, and tells the story of Jimmy, Quadrophenia's main protagonist, and his chemically enhanced train journey to Brighton. If I'm honest it's a little long for my liking but seeing as how Townsend dragged it out to 4 minutes 59 seconds it does seem a bit of a missed opportunity not to have added the extra 16 seconds.



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